Illinois was swept at home for the first time this season after this weekend’s series against No.13 Jamestown.

The first matchup between the two top-15 ranked teams was as tight as could be.

It came down to a shootout to see who would take Friday night’s win. Rookie Drew Richter was the last for the Illini (15-7-0-2) to retrieve the puck, searching for an opportunity to get one past Jimmie goaltender Tyson Brouwer and extend the game, but he was unsuccessful, giving the Jimmies the first win of the series.

Early in the first period, sophomore forward Chance Homerin helped the Illini grab the lead by putting the first one on the boards with a power-play goal, with 7:21 left in the period.

The victory was short-lived as Jamestown’s Allan Pruss tied it up for the Jimmies, ending the first period, 1-1.

The Illini had better luck in the second, capturing two goals and forcing Jamestown to get more aggressive.

Senior James McGing scored a power-play goal off the rebound after missing the first four games of 2018 due to an upper-body injury. Not long after, Richter put another one in securing the team’s lead in the second period.

“The power play was good,” said head coach Nick Fabbrini. “It’s definitely something that has been a point of emphasis for us. The penalty kills have really been a strength for us all year and that continued tonight.”

Attempting to catch up to the Illini, Jimmies’ forward Jason Richter was able to put one past Illini senior goaltender David Heflin, closing the gap.

Jamestown tied the game again with a goal by Graeme Close, forcing overtime play.

Though Friday night’s game ended on a low note for Illinois as they lost 4-3 in a shootout, coach Fabbrini said it was good to see the team get going and was hopeful their play would continue going into the next game.

“I have to give them credit for scoring, obviously, but we feel like we made a lot of mistakes tonight,” Fabbrini said. “We need to take better care of the D-zone. I think we were pretty good for the most part tonight, but the last ten minutes we started running around a little bit, which is something we’ll talk about tomorrow.”

Jimmies’ Jason Richter was quick to put one in 19 seconds into the opening frame of Saturday’s game, holding the lead throughout the first.

In an attempt by the Illini to protect the goal, the pass was deflected, and Jimmies’ defenseman Trevor Pereverzoff took the opportunity to extend their lead to 2-0 in the second period while the Illini suffered two penalties, both coming from Homerin.

The Jimmies shut out the Illini, 2-0.

“I thought we cleaned up some mistakes, but when you give up a goal 20 seconds in, you can’t really be too pleased,” Fabbrini said. “For the second and third, I’d say we played well enough, but not well enough to win. It just comes down to the margins and finishing when we get opportunities.”